


Golden

by PearlsonFriday



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry is still the fastest man alive, Eobard is still crazy, F/M, M/M, Nightmares, Olivarry, Olympics AU, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 03:04:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7784221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PearlsonFriday/pseuds/PearlsonFriday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry Allen was 18 the first time he won Gold. He had always known he was fast, but he had never thought that he would be there. </p><p>Standing on a podium, biting gold, crying as the crowd roared and he was named the fastest man alive. </p><p>It was the first time he had felt truly alive and for the next four days he felt this feeling again and again. </p><p>Bartholomew Henry Allen would go home with six shiny new gold metals.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Golden

**Author's Note:**

> Got this AU stuck in my head, hope you like it. Let me know what you think!

Barry Allen was 18 the first time he won Gold. He had always known he was fast, but he had never thought that he would be there. 

Standing on a podium, biting gold, crying as the crowd roared and he was named the fastest man alive. 

It was the first time he had felt truly alive and for the next four days he felt this feeling again and again. 

Bartholomew Henry Allen would go home with six shiny new gold metals. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

Beijing was also the first place he met Oliver Queen. 

It had all begun like every other morning, he had grabbed as much food as he could carry from the buffet and had sat down at a long table towards the back of the room. Usually he ate alone, or with Cisco and Caitlin. That day he had been alone, until Felicity Smoak had slipped in across from him. 

Barry had known Felicity since the first time she hacked his email when they were 10. They had been pen pals ever since, even though the computer genius was a little older. The two hardly ever saw each other face to face, so Barry was more than a little surprised to see her there.

“Felicity?! What are you doing here?” He whisper yelled, leaning far across the table. 

“I am eating breakfast of course.” She looked smug with her answer. 

Barry frowned concerned. “You aren’t an athlete, how did you get in?” 

“How do you think? I put myself in the system, made myself an ID and room key. The guards and security were too dumb to notice that Curling was not a summer Olympic sport. So I just walked right in and my nose led me here.” She unwrapped the muffin in her hand and stuffed it into her mouth. “These muffins are divine….” She said moaning in pleasure. 

“Don’t you know it.” Barry looked up and was greeted by two athletic looking women, taking seats on either side of Felicity. The one with darker hair looked at Barry a moment before extending a hand, he shook it. “Laurel Lance, Boxing. That's my sister,” She pointed at the blonde on the other side of Felicity. “Sara, Judo.” The blonde smiled a sharp smile. 

“How exactly do you know our mascot here?” Sara asked sharp smile still in place. Felicity almost choked on her muffin while gasping. 

Laurel laughed and patted the youngest blonde’s back. “Sorry lis, everyone knows it's true.”

The blonde genius pouted, “That doesn’t mean you have to tell Barry! I get that I am not as good at sports as you are, but that doesn’t mean I’m useless.” 

“No one ever said that Felicity.” Barry patted his friend’s hand and pushed another muffin her direction. “I’m Barry Allen, Track and Field, and I met Felicity when we were ten and she hacked my email account.” 

“Now there is a story I have to hear…” Cisco said sliding into the seat on Barry’s right. “Hi,” He waved at the ladies across from him. “Cisco Ramon, Ping Pong champ!” 

“How many times do I have to tell you it’s table tennis before you actually remember?” Asked an exasperated voice. Everyone at the table watched as Caitlin sat down on Barry’s left. She shook everyone’s hand in greeting. “I’m Caitlin Snow, trainer and personal doctor for these two idiots.” She jerked a thumb at Barry and Cisco, who both laughed. 

The laughing stopped abruptly as Cisco turned to Barry. “Now, computer hacking story go!” 

Barry smiled fondly and began to weave the tale. As he did more people sat down around him. Lyla and John Diggle, both trap shooters and damn good ones too. Iris sat down next to Caitlin, waved at Cisco and smiled devilishly at Barry. He would bet his soon to be won gold that she was part of Felicity’s curling team and that they were sharing a room. 

On the other side of Sara, sat Roy Harper, archer, who instantly began jumping in with questions. The whole table made Barry smile. 

The last person sat down at the table, just the story ended. Oliver Queen, best shot in the entire world, Archery extraordinaire. He sat down with a huff, everyone at the table watching silently. “That sounds like something Felicity would do.” 

The table erupted with laughter. Barry smiled. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

Barry saw Oliver every morning and at little times throughout the day for the next 15 days. 

When Barry blew the world record for the 10k out of the water, he spotted Oliver in the crowd and the archer grinned, a real one, and waved a tiny flag. 

Barry smiled even harder. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

It seemed even after the Olympics and everything had died down, Barry could not escape Oliver Queen. 

S.T.A.R. Labs, his sponsor since he was 15 decided to pair up with Starling City’s Palmer Tech, who sponsored what Barry and Cisco liked to call Team Arrow, in putting together an airplane hangar that had a combination of sports arena, scientific lab, and medical center. It sat just on the edge of Central City. 

The first time Barry had seen it, he had cried. Cisco had taken off, already manic just by seeing the place, muttering something about friction proof shoes and Spider web bow strings. Caitlin had nearly tripped on her heels running, along with Felicity and Iris to the main cortex/medical center. The rest of Team Arrow just smiled fondly as they watched their new teammates run around like chickens with their heads cut off, before they themselves wandered off to explore. 

Only Oliver and Barry stood at the entrance. Oliver smiled fondly. “This is going to be an interesting four years.” He walked away, leaving Barry still silhouetted against the sun from the open doors. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

They fell into a rhythm. 

Team Arrow moved into the apartments provided nearby and everyone showed up at almost the same time every morning, then dispersed by 11:00, either to practise individually or to go to work (All except Cisco who worked from the lab at the creatively named Hangar) or to go to college. 

Barry was on track to graduate from Central City university with a masters degree in Crime Scene technology and a bachelors in chemistry. When he wasn’t working for school, he was running. 

On a good day about 25 kilometers. It was either that or he was doing the workouts Caitlin had designed for him. Or testing a new piece of Cisco tech. Or hanging out with Iris. 

Everyday was about the same, that is except for Thursdays. 

The Lance sisters decided that every Thursday night, everyone would drop what they were doing for a few hours and they would all watch a movie. Every week, someone new got to pick and every week they would pile up blankets and pillows and settle down for an hour or two. Barry liked those times best. 

He liked them especially when Oliver would sit next to him. 

Oliver and Barry shared a special bond. 

They came in the earliest and left the latest. Sometimes they would talk while they worked out or sometimes they would sit in silence. Sometimes they would talk about their dreams or their fears or what they had had for breakfast. 

Even as new people came (Thea Queen, archery and Wally West, Track and Field) the two of them stayed the same. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

When Barry was 20 he graduated from college and was immediately hired by the CCPD. (They had agreed to Barry’s odd hours and Barry was just glad to work with Joe, he loved his foster father, but never really saw him with all of his training.) 

Barry loved his job and he was great at it, even if he was always late. 

Joe had but in a good review and had gotten Laurel into the district attorney's office. 

Iris married Joe’s partner Eddie and Barry was their Man of Honor. 

Training continued and his crush of Oliver Queen only grew. Cisco invented him new shoes and Felicity made him a fake ID. 

All in all, life was going well for Barry. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

Barry’s second Olympics was definitely more eventful than his first. 

Number one, some reporter had managed to get past Felicity’s carefully encrypted Firewalls of Doom and had released his tragic backstory to the world. 

The fact that his Mother had been stabbed and the fact that his father was still serving time for it. 

The fact that Barry believed (and still believes) that his father had not murdered his mother and that infact it had been a man in a yellow suit. 

After all this was released the day after the 2012 London Olympic torch was lit, made it all the worse. His fellow athletes from around the world began to look at him with either pity or disgust, some even treated him like a murderer. Someone had spit in his hair as he had walked into the arena. That night he had cried. 

The only thing that made things bearable was his team, not team USA, no HIS team. HIS family. 

They made him smile and deflected all the nasty looks. Barry had never been more thankful for them. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

Barry had been standing on the podium, gold between his teeth, national anthem playing when they told him. 

The crowd got to watch in high def as the blood drained out of Barry’s face and as he stumbled off the podium and ran right out of the stadium, never once turning around. 

His father was dead. Henry Allen was dead. 

He had finally gotten probation to go see his son in the Olympics, only to be stabbed to death in the airport. 

By a man in a yellow suit. 

Barry ran. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

 

Oliver was 28 when he realized just how much he had learned about his fellow teammates. 

He learned that Felicity liked to talk to herself while she hacked and that she didn’t really like maple syrup. He learned that Diggle’s brother had been a crime lord and that he took his coffee black. He learned that Sara was married to an assassin and that Laurel had only dated him to make Tommy jealous. He learned that Lyla wanted to work for the FBI and that red velvet cake was her favorite. He learned that Cisco had been abused as a child and that he liked to slurp his coffee. He learned that Caitlin’s fiance had died a hero and that she was in love with Cisco. Roy loved Thea and doing parkour, Thea loved Roy and playing with knives. Wally loved engines and treated Iris like she was made of glass. 

What surprised him the most was how much he knew about Barry Allen. He could tell you everything from his favorite ice cream to the Iris’ first boyfriend’s name to his mother’s eye colour. 

What was even more surprising and a little bit horrifying was how much Barry knew about him. He was even more startled at the fact that he didn’t hate that. 

It was for these reasons that Oliver had been able to find Barry first. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZz  
When Oliver found Barry, he was curled up next to a dumpster near the Science museum. 

Oliver had remembered how Barry had smushed his face up against the window as they passed in on their way to the Olympic park. The CSI had promptly began babbling about how fantastic it was and how many exhibits and people and places and how Felicity, Cisco and Caitlin joined him. 

Science made Barry feel safe. 

So that meant it was the first place that Oliver was going to look. 

He knew he was getting close when he saw a gold medal hanging from the side of a dumpster. So he ventured further down the alley and sure enough there sat the speedster, curled in on himself, shaking with tears. He looked devastated. 

Oliver wandered closer and sat down next to him. 

Barry looked up for only a second before shoving his face back into his arms. Oliver leaned against the wall, tired and more than a little bit relieved. 

Silence sat between them and the sounds of the city echoed in the tiny alley. 

“I was ten when my father shot himself in front of me.” 

Barry gasped and looked at his friend in horror. Oliver never talked about his past. 

“I didn’t speak for a month after. He had told before he died that bad people were coming to get him. That's why I took up archery. I wanted to be able to protect my family and I refused to use a gun. I also started Judo and Boxing which is where I met the Lance sisters and Diggle.” Oliver looked at the building across the alley. He felt the heat as Barry scooted closer until he was only centimeters away. 

“Did they come? The bad men I mean.” He asked voice husky from crying. 

Oliver tensed. “Yes, they did.”

Barry leaned until they were touching. “Did you…”

“Yes, I was almost unqualified for the Olympics for it. I was 16.” 

Oliver felt Barry’s hiccup sob. “When my Mom died I was 18 and I didn’t let Thea out of my sight for months. I became her legal guardian. I didn’t talk, only after Diggle dragged me out and showed me what I had missed, I learned that I still had a family.”

He turned and looked into Barry’s green eyes, he watched the tears drip down his younger friends face. “Even though it hurts and you feel alone, you have to remember you’re not. You’ve got Joe and Iris. You’ve got the rest of us too. Remember that when you walk into the arena tomorrow. Run for him Barry, not away.” 

Oliver pushed himself off the ground and offered his hand to his fellow Olympian. Barry grabbed it and dragged himself up. Oliver handed him a bag, before walking to retrieve Barry’s medal. He opened the bag, it had sweat pants, a S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt and a pair of converse. 

“Change and we’ll grab some coffee before we go home.”

Barry nodded and slipped on the loose clothing. He tied his converse and shoved Cisco’s Friction Proof shoes and the gold medal Oliver had handed him shoes into the drawstring bag Oliver had given him before jogging to meet his friend at the mouth of the alley. 

“Let's go get my promised coffee.” Barry gave him weak smile and grabbed the archers arm and dragged him out onto the dreary London street. Oliver allowed himself to be dragged along, happy that his friend smiled even a little bit. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

The next day, the news broke to the world. 

Bartholomew Henry Allen walked into the arena head held high, slight smile on his face in a suit Cisco had made special for him. 

It was decorated with lightning bolts. 

He lined up at the starting line and proceeded to blow his previous 10K record out of the water. 

The crowd went wild, but he scanned the crowd for only one person. 

Oliver winked at him. 

He ran even harder.

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

Director David Signh of the CCPD was done with life for the day. 

He had just come back from a very interesting homicide involving laser pointers, a dead librarian, 17 dragonflies and a tennis racket. The whole time Barry Allen had been buzzing around like a hummingbird on crack and Singh was on the verge of a migraine. He loved his super genius CSI but sometimes he just wanted to give the kid throat hugs. 

The last thing he wanted to find when he walked into his bullpen was one Oliver Queen wearing painted on jeans and a green leather jacket.

Before you go blaming him for looking at another man, you can’t yell at him for appreciating art. (Also Rob has a huge crush on the badass archer, he would bet his badge his boyfriend would be staring at that ass.) 

The archer whipped around to look at the new arrivals and instantly made eye contact with someone behind the Director. 

“Barry…” The relief in the large blonde’s voice was evident. Singh watched as his CSI and Olympic gold medal winner jog towards the man at the center of attention. 

The runner placed a hand on the archer’s arm as his brows wrinkled in confusion. “What’s the matter Ollie?” 

Oliver opened his mouth to say something but then apparently thought better of it. He made eye contact with Director Singh. “I think this should probably be done in private, there is some very delicate information that your Director should be aware of.” 

Singh caught the cue. “You two, to my office.” He looked over the rest of his men. “The rest of you get back to work.” Instantly hustling began and Singh began to pick his way to his office. 

When he finally closed the door behind the two athletes, he gestured to chairs and sat behind his desk. 

“Someone is killing Olympians.” Oliver said bluntly. Barry gasped and David narrowed his eyes and leaned forward, gesturing for Oliver to continue. “Not just any Olympians, only ones with ties to Barry.” Barry stared at his friend in horror. “So far Cold, Quick and…. Patty.” 

Singh watched as his CSI turned to ice. Before he could ask any questions, Oliver continued. “There are similarities that are too big to ignore. All the people killed, Olympians or their families,” Oliver cast a sideways glance at Allen’s icey pose and glassy eyes. “They were all stabbed to death, with the same sized knife all witnesses claiming to have seen a man in a yellow suit.” A choked sound emerged from the runner. “Today there was an attempt on Wally’s life.” Oliver continued not letting time for any reactions. “He had been going out to lunch with Sara when a man began following them. Sara noticed the knife and roundhouse kicked the stalker in the head. She then grabbed Wally and ran like hell. That’s why I’m here. S.T.A.R. Labs is renting a house just outside of Star and I am taking you there until they figure out who’s killing people.” 

Oliver finally stopped talking, only to receive a weak laugh from Barry. “That was a lot of words for you Ollie.” He then looked at Director Singh, clearly shattered just below the service. “Can I have some time off?” 

He just nodded, he would have let the kid go even if Queen wasn’t trying to glare a hole through his head. “Yeah… Take time until this passes.” He looked at Queen. “I want updates whenever something new happens. Also try not to let my favorite CSI get broken, he’s grown on me.” Oliver nodded solemnly and helped Barry up, who was clearly in shock. Singh opened the door and watched as they exited the building. 

He hoped to god by the time they got back, the UST would be gone, because damn, there was obviously there. Rob was right about the gayest straight boy he’d ever met thing. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZz

When they arrived at the modestly sized house, Barry was instantly enveloped in Iris’ arms. He just stood there clutching his best friend and shaking. It was silent, even though the room was full of people. 

Felicity could only stay silent so long. “Okay folks! Let’s get this party started. First room assignments and then meal assignments. We have 8 rooms with Queen beds, there will be no sleeping on couches because I know some of us like to wake up early. Rooms are Diggle and Lyla, Roy and Thea, Cisco and Caitlin, Tommy and Laurel, Sara and Nyssa, Iris and I, Wally and himself and finally Oliver and Barry.” Looks were exchanged. “Now everybody find a room.” Chaos happened. 

It left only Oliver and Barry standing in the living room alone. It was horribly awkward. Barry smiled and rubbed his neck sheepishly. “Better go see what they left us right?” Oliver nodded and set off to the left leaving Barry tripping to catch up. 

They ended up with a nice room with a view of the field behind the house. They set themselves up in silence and met with everyone back in the living room, as Laurel was going through the ground rules.

“Try to stay inside as much as possible…” Her head snapped up as the last two entered the room. She grinned devilishly. “Nice of you to join us. I was just explaining that even though we have no neighbors, try to stay inside, we don’t want to take any chances, especially you Barry.” She give the runner a pointed look. “As for meals, Barry, yours and Iris’ is tomorrow, she said something about chili? Oliver, yours and Thea’s will Be Friday. Prepare yourselves for the long hall.” There were groans and people began to dissipate and explore the house. 

Oliver stared at the still shocked Barry next to him and began to scream internally. This was going to be a very long couple of weeks. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

The first night was uncomfortable to say the least. So was the second. 

Oliver took the right and Barry the left, but somehow both nights they still ended up together in the center of the bed. 

They both pretended that it never happened during the days. Oliver saw every sly glance and rude hand gesture when they thought he couldn’t see. 

Barry continued to be as oblivious as always. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZz

The third night was the first time Oliver had a nightmare since staying at the house. 

Barry had been awake, staring at the ceiling trying not to think about Patty, when Oliver sat up violently and instantly grabbed his bow (that he kept next to the bed??) and pointed it at Barry fully loaded. 

“Who are you? Where am I?” He growled out. 

Barry put his hands up in surrender, letting one drift forward and point the bow towards the bed. “It’s me Barry. Please wake up Ollie, I would never hurt you.” He spoke softly as if to a flighty animal, which if he was honest with himself, Oliver probably was at this moment. 

Barry reached out farther and touched Oliver’s arm, causing the man to wake up instantly. He looked at the bow in his hands with an arrow pointed at his fellow Olympian. He ripped the covers off and was on his feet instantly, horrified by himself. 

Barry slipped off the bed and walked towards Oliver. For everyone of his steps forward, Oliver took one back, until he was against the wall. Barry then gently pulled the bow out of his hands and set it on the floor. He grabbed Oliver’s hands and pulled him towards the bed. 

Oliver sat down shell shocked. Barry let go of his hands and reached out to touch his face. Oliver jerked away. Barry sighed, pushed him down and pulled the covers over both of them. 

Barry pushed himself into Oliver’s arms and tangled them together. “I know you would never try to hurt me Ollie. Go back to sleep.” He yawned sleepily and pushed back farther into the archer’s heat, before falling quickly to sleep. 

Oliver just stared down at Barry in wonder. 

All he could hear was Singh’s words whipping through his head. Protect him….

zZzZzZzZzZzZzZz

After, what Barry dubbed nightmare night, they had started curling up together to start with. 

Oliver had never slept better.

zZzZzZzZzZzZz

It was two weeks after their arrival that the killer was caught. 

Eobard Thawne, Eddie’s estranged cousin, fastest man in the world until Barry had stumbled into the spotlight. 

He had become obsessed with the young runner and decided the only way into his heart was to get rid of all the distractions. So he had started small and slowly got bigger, being caught trying to murder Joe during his lunch break. 

It was time to leave and Barry was devastated. 

Him and Oliver had grown so close over the past two weeks, Barry now felt that he had a chance with his long time crush. 

Needless to say Barry jumped at the chance when Oliver offered him a ride home. 

They helped clean up the house and waved as everyone left, leaving them all alone. 

“Fuck it.” 

Barry snapped his attention to Oliver in confusion, only to be greeted with a pair of lips on his own. 

That was nice very nice. He felt Oliver smile as he melted into the kiss. 

When they finally broke apart in need of air. Barry smiled slyly and looked Oliver through his long lashes. “I could get used to that. On a completely unrelated note, we have the house rented out until this Sunday.” That was all Oliver needed to grab Barry’s hand and drag him back into the house, slamming the door behind them. 

zZzZzZzZzZzZz

Barry was 26 when he walked into the Olympic stadium in Rio. 

17 days later, he walked out with eight golds and a golden band around his left ring finger.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry if anyone is a little OOC, I haven't been able to watch the shows in a while. I want to try to post stuff once a month, so sorry about July!
> 
> ~Pearls


End file.
